Resounding Victory for Correa in Ecuador

QUITO, April 17.— With 99.60 percent of the ballots counted a huge
81.7 percent of Ecuadorians said YES to President Rafael Correa's
request for a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution and
radically transform the country.

By press time, a total of 5,317,698 citizens had voted in favor of the
Assembly while the NO votes were 810,274 for 12.45 percent. The
Electoral Supreme Court also ruled 5.85 percent of the ballots as
either invalid or blank.

The results are seen as a major victory for President Correa and a big
defeat for the traditional parties (Social Christian and Christian
Democrat), reported Prensa Latina.

After announcing the final results, the electoral authority has eight
days to convene the Constituent Assembly, making possible candidate
inscription. This could occur as early as April 25.

With the Assembly now a given, the different political and social
movements, including those that had opposed the idea of a new
constitution, are already preparing their lists of candidates, marking
the beginning of a new electoral campaign.